Favorite trainers and/or jockeys?

Question

I'm just curious who peoples' favorite trainers and jockeys are and why. Do you care more about how well they treat their horses or how much they win? I'm particularly interested in trainers and jockeys who are currently active or only recently retired.

Answer 1

Great question! I personally have different favorites for different surfaces. But one of the most important things (for me) is how they treat the horses trusted to their care. It makes a huge difference for me to see them treat a horse like a friend and not necessarily as a business commodity.

One of the kindest Trainers I have ever seen bar NONE is Michael Matz. I love Shug McGaughy, Nick Zito, Bill Mott, D Wayne Lukas (even though many will accuse him of burning up horses), Malcolm Pierce (Canadian), Roger Attfield (Canadian), Mark Frostad (Canadian) and Carl Nafzger. I love listening to the old timers like H. Allen Jerkins, Scotty Schulhoffer was one of my favorites! The tales they can tell...

Some of the later Trainers I highly respect are H.Graham Motion, Kieran McLaughlin and Christophe Clement.

My favorite jockeys are Edgar Prado... I have followed his career since the early 1990's, the recently retired Mark Guidry, Shane Sellers ( retired for 2 years I think), Kent Desormeaux and Mike Smith. Mikey used to be known as the King of Saratoga until he broke his back there in the last week of the 1998 meet. Prado and Smith have the best sets of hands I have ever seen... they are just SO kind to all their mounts I have seen them ride. I like Calvin Borel, he is just so down to earth you have to respect the guy!

*** Addition: I can't believe I left out Barclay Tagg (and Robin Smullen)! This man has a pretty gruff demeanor, but what he knows about horses would amaze you! I know he caught a lot of flak for scratching Funny Cide when the weather conditions didn't meet his expectations, BUT he knew Funny Cide inside out, and he wasn't going to put him in a situation that might be detrimental to his health. He started out with Frank Whitely (of RUFFIAN fame), personally I think he got the gruffness from Frank...LOL! He and Robin are a team, and now Robin uses Funny Cide as her stable pony (he lives like a KING and is still going to the track so he's happy as you know what...)

   I was thrilled to see Shug take 2 stakes races yesterday, and with his long time client Stuart S. Janney to boot! He took one at Churchill and one at Aqueduct... just a small hint here: keep your eyes on Alan Garcia as an up and coming jockey. He won't be flying under the radar for much longer!

Answer 2

My favorite trainer  was J G Fitzgerald.The best jockey has to be John Francome. He was not only a successful showjumper, he was the champion jump jockey who had great style and poise and very good hands.

I worked for Fitzy and he cared more about those horses than anything else. One horse broke down and he paid thousands for it to have surgery. We then had to move horses around so that Tikitiboo could have the stall outside his office. He said that the horse had always done right by him and it was his turn to return the favor. Tiki was a gelding and so he was finished and Fitzy didn't care. The horse later went on to live in the pasture behind the yard with his kid's pony. Fantastic trainer and an outstanding horseman!

Answer 3

fav trainer peter miller

Answer 4

Favorite trainers --Todd Pletcher, Carl Nafzger, Bill Mott, Bob Baffert, Steve Asmussen

Jockeys --Calvin Borel, Rafael Bejarano, Edgar Prado, and the recently retireds Gary Stevens and Pat Day.

I care more about how they treat their horses AND the people they work around than how much they win. For that reason, I despise with a passion D Wayne Lukas, Patrick Valenzuela and Corey Nakatani. Those are people who I wouldn't spit on if they were on fire.

Answer 5

I have to agree with the previous poster. My favorite trainer is Todd Pletcher and favorite jockey is Garret Gomez. Of course, they are the #1 trainer and jockey right now in terms of wins and money earnings. Garret is a super rider - he just broke the previous record set by Jerry Bailey for most stakes wins in a year with 71 stakes wins this year so far. If he did not ride races well he would not have achieved this. I have never seen him do anything to indicate that he does not treat the horses he rides well. Pletcher's horses are always ones you want to keep an eye on when handicapping a race. I think it is clear Pletcher puts the horses first - look at Rags to Riches this past summer. Every time her temperature went up a half a degree he canceled her workouts. At any rate, if you did not treat the horses well they would not run well and you would not be number one!

Answer 6

jockey garret Gomez

trainer.....Todd Pletcher

just top notch horse people.....horses come 1st..and then

the horses run 1st........the stats don't lie!!!!!

Answer 7

In the present day, Bob Baffert. In the days when I worked at Santa Anita, Charlie Whittingham.  Charlie was a great trainer, and a good man.  The complete opposite to D. Wayne Lukas. You rarely see anything past the age of four running for him, if they make it that far.

It was my pleasure to give Bill Shoemaker a leg up once. Of all the men I met while working at the track, he was the only gentleman, except for Alan Balch, who was the general manager. The Shoe was the BEST. Angel Cordero was the WORST....arrogant, ill bred, and a cheat.

And for a horse and jockey combination, you'll never see another like Secretariat and Ron Turcotte. I never saw another horse run like that, or a jockey that was in better tune with his mount.

Answer 8

My favorite trainer is Carl Nafzger. He seems like he knows how to treat horses well. He has a connection with his horses. I care about how good they treat their horses, because if they don't get great care then they are not going to run well. My other favorite trainer is Steve Asmussen. I have been a big fan of his for a time. I have so many favorite jockeys, retired and current. My favorite current jockey is Robby Albarado. I met him recently and he was nice!  He knows how to ride horses (Curlin-Breeder's Cup Classic winner) ! My other favorite current jockeys are Calvin Borel, Corey Nakatani, Joe Talamo, Corey Lanerie, and Channing Hill. My favorite retired jockey is Gary Stevens. He knew how to time the finish perfectly! My other favorite retired jockey are Shane Sellers and Pat Day. Thanks for putting this question up!

Answer 9

Sandy Hawley and Larry Attard. Both are Canadian jockeys and are gentlemen to talk to .  They are both now retired.

Answer 10

Trainers:

Gary Contessa (I worked for him)

Bobby Baffert

Bobby Frankel

Allen Jerkens

Jockeys:

Pat Day (retired)

Mike Smith

Herb McCauley (making a comeback at 50)

Richard Migliore  

I think all the trainers I mentioned take pretty good care of their horses, and that is important. I spent one summer down at Atlantic City Racecourse and there was one trainer on the other side of the barn who at times did not show up for a few days to take care of his horses: I mean nothing, he didn't take them out or even get hay or water. As much as one would have liked to throw them a flake of hay, of course it was a bit heartwrenching that I could not, lest something did happen to the horse and you get wrongly blamed.

Answer 11

I live in northeast Ohio, so I will approach your question more locally. My favorite trainer is Tim Hamm, who is an owner/trainer/Ohio farm owner....he is the type who sincerely places his runners in spots where they have they best opportunity to succeed (when his runners enter the gate, they are as ready as they can be at that point in time).

My favorite rider is Luis Gonzalez, who has first-call on Hamm's runners. He will put his runners in position to achieve - no matter if it's a $3,500 claimer or stakes racer - and his use of reins to work as a team with the Thoroughbred is quite impressive. In a sport of great people, he is an outstanding ambassador for racing in Ohio.